We all put our pants on one leg at a time, and if you're like most of us the next thing you do is throw on your shoes, jump in the car and rush to work. We repeat this process for five days, collect a check from our employers to compensate us for our time, and then we enjoy two days of me time.
Landscape designers are employees just like the rest of us. A landscape designers work flow is a follows:
1) Meet with client to determine the scope of their project
2) Prepare documents and drawings in the days that follow
3) Meet with the client to present their concepts
Landscape designers (the employee) deserve compensation from their employer (the client) for their time.
With that in mind there should be two questions to consider when assigning a value to a design product:
1)What is a designers time worth? and 2) How much time did the designer invest?
1) What is a designers time worth?
Are they actually professionals?
Your mom could check your temperature but for full exam you should see a doctor.
An academically trained landscape designer should be held in a higher regard than someone who is just going off their experience.
That being said we can not discredit experience either.
Designers with more experience are worth more than those without.
Experienced educated designers are worth more up front because they have seen what works and what does not.
An academically trained experienced designer is worth paying for because their concepts should accomplish more and last longer which will save you money and prevent frustration in the long run.
2) How much time will the designer invest?
Some designers have a basic cookie cutter design that they recycle into every project.
Other designers really listen to their clients and consider what their clients expressed when they are sitting at the drafting board.
The amount of time a designer puts into each design should be evident when looking through their portfolio.
If all of their projects look very similar it would be fair to assume that they do not put much consideration into what their clients have expressed and they do not invest much time drafting their ideas.
With the answers to these questions in mind you should know what a fair design price should be. Once a landscape designer has quoted their price ask yourself if the amount of compensation they are requesting is fair.
The most important question you should ask yourself when hiring a designer is: Does this person have the ability to design and install a project that will give me everything I am looking for? If the answer is yes and you think their price is fair then you should hire them. If the answer to that question is no then you are wasting your time hiring them even if their design fee is $0.00.
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At scott flanagan landscape inc we understand that many of our competitors offer free design. For that reason we have a variety of fee based design options as well as free design options. Give us a call today to schedule an appointment with Scott Flanagan, our landscape designer so that we can help you make your dreams a reality!
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Scott Flanagan has owned and operated his Orland Park landscape company since 1995. He has a bachelor's degree in Ornamental Horticulture with a focus in Landscape Architecture from the University of Illinois Champaign Urbana. He is an academically trained landscape designer with more than a decade of experience. Landscape designs created by Scott and installed by his crews are sure to exceed your expectations.